


thread

by KeanBlade



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Red String of Fate, Senju Tobirama Needs a Hug, Soulmates, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21932935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeanBlade/pseuds/KeanBlade
Summary: The red thread was supposed to lead soulmates together but Tobirama had know for a long time that his would never be what it was supposed to be, perhaps that was for the best though - surely Madara was better off without him.
Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Comments: 23
Kudos: 770





	thread

Tobirama stared at his hand, transfixed as he often was by the thread hooked around his wrist, (“ _wrist, Butsuma, his wrist. His soulmate bond will be a very strong one-“ “He will ignore it, it is not needed” “Butsuma! A bond this strong is not like a finger bond, it will hurt him, he and his mate will be called together; their fate is strong” “Then I will find a way to make it **weak** ”_) shinning the same almost too red as the tattoos on his face (or the tattoos were the color of the thread) and stretching away through the wall of the Tower and leading him straight to his soulmate if he followed it ( _“you can’t see it grandmother?” “No Tobirama, I am not a sensor as strong as you. I can only see them like everyone else; I can see my own and when soulmates get close to each other or touch and the thread becomes one.” “oh“ “You must promise me something winter child, promise me that you will never try and interfere with the threads. There is a time for everyone to meet, a **fate** that belongs to each of them, and if you tell them before their time you could break their thread and they will never find their fate” “but what if they find their soulmate and don’t stay with them?” “Oh child. A soulmate is not a promise of love. A soulmate is one whose **fate** is twined with your own, sometimes people can’t stay together, sometimes there are other things” “but grandmother, I thought soulmates were made right for each other?” “They are, but that’s not always enough”_). But Tobirama knew what was on the other end of his thread and knew there was only a broken heart for him there; Madara would never look at him with anything other than distaste, Madara would never want him, Madara would never look at Tobirama as anything but a lesser shadow of his brilliant brother (distasteful, cold, empty, foolish, ugly, unwanted).

Tobirama knew that eventually Madara would join Hashirama and Mito and together they would bring the world to a shinning peace that no one could ever make but them. He knew it would happen, had known it since he was nine and watching his thread connect with and Uchiha’s from a tree and seen a shimmering blue thread between Madara and Hashirama ( _“what is a blue thread?” “Where did you see one of those? Ah, not going to say? Very well, a blue thread is **very** rare, it is a thread of fate of a sort, a shared purpose. Not a soulmate dear, but two people who are going to do something amazing together, who are going to change the fates of many, but it’s not a soulmate, that is something different”_) and known that no one would _ever_ choose him over Hashirama. Madara and Hashirama had a shared purpose and they cared for each other and Tobirama? Tobirama was quiet and focused and intense and didn’t understand people and ugly and a _freak._ So Tobirama tried, he tried to keep father distracted so Madara and Hashirama could do their amazing thing together; he tried to keep Hashirama safe by not letting him go to the river when he could feel Izuna following Madara, he tried to keep up with what his father wanted of him and for an entire year and a half it worked right up until it didn’t. Right up until Tobirama was too tried to see father leave until father was already gone and all he could do was follow and pray.

It worked, sort of. Father didn’t kill Madara but only because Tobirama stopped him at the trees and lied to his face (but was it a lie? He thought it might not be); lied and told his father that Madara was his soulmate (true) and that as a sensor with a strong bond (wrist bond – true) it would cripple him if Madara was killed ( ~~lie~~ ). Father had been furious, so angry that Tobirama had feared far more than he ever had but that? That worked to his advantage too. Father burst in on Hashirama and Tobirama’s soulmate talking about their village (too quiet for Father to hear) and hauled Hashirama up by his shirt, shaking with fury; yelled at them with promises of pain and forbid them ever meeting again. But he didn’t kill Madara. and he didn’t even knock Hashirama around that much, far, _far_ angrier with Tobirama- who had _known_ \- than Hashirama who said he hadn’t (he was so good at lying to himself). But there was Tobirama who had known that they were meeting, had lied to Father, had known who Madara was, had the gall to protect him, had the unfortunate accident to be bonded to him (Tobirama understood, he knew he was a curse to any soulmate and that it was a miracle he even had one. He was just glad Madara had someone else to share a fate with, Hashirama was perfect for that).

And so Father had the lines tattooed on his skin, sharp on his chin and swirling around his wrists (Tobirama added the lines on his cheeks later, when he couldn’t bare to let Father be the only marks on his skin) and firmly silencing the thread in Tobirama, tying a knot in it that could never be undone (for Madara would never want it undone and that was the only way); twisting the string into something no one really understood just to make Tobirama _hurt_ (and it had. It had hurt like nothing before or since, not even when perfecting the Hiraishin) and to be sure that Tobirama’s fate was mangled beyond all hope. And how was Tobirama supposed to understand what they had done when even the person that had done it hadn’t, not really; the Hyuuga just took the power and ink and the permission his Father forced from his lips and tangled, knotted, tied, bound, until though the thread started at his wrist it wrapped all around him like a cosmic spider web digging into every tenketsuin point before returning to his wrist and leading off into the distance. Tobirama never told his Father that it was still connected (what did it matter, he would never be able to speak of it even _if_ he wanted to. His fingers brushed against a thin raised line around his throat when the thread wrapped around it, almost invisible scars where was should have been intangible was made _physical_ ) and never told his Father that he was more sure now than he had ever been that Madara dying would kill him, that didn’t matter either.

* * *

Madara _loved_ Konoha and hated it. He loved the peace and safety that the village gave him and the children that it saved, loved what he and Hashirama (and Tobirama) had brought into being, loved the fulfillment of the dream that they had first dreamed up on a river bank years ago in the time they had to be friends (back when all Madara knew of Tobirama was a flash of white in the trees no one else saw). But he hated that Hashirama was the only person not intimidated by him after he shouted his clan into compliance with peace (many had wanted it but there had been others that didn’t and they were _loud_ , Madara had forced them into silence with his chakra and the rest of the clan had never argued) and while they were coming around Izuna _wasn’t_ (brat), Hashirama just got… _old_. And a bit overwhelming. And just a lot that Madara didn’t want to deal with- shared purpose thread or not-; what he _wanted_ was someone to talk to who wasn’t afraid of him, who wouldn’t burst into tears at the slightest thing, who had something _intelligent_ to say. Which led right back to what he hated, he hated that _look_ he was seeing in Tobirama’s eyes more and more even if he wasn’t sure what it meant (tired? resigned? hurting) and he hated that he wasn’t sure where his soulmate was even if there was that nagging feeling in the back of his head that said that they were right in front of him.

“Madara?” Hashirama’s pathetic whine jarred Madara out of his thoughts and he shot the other man a dirty look “ _What?_ ” he snapped and Hashirama’s lip quivered - and no, hell no, Madara was _not_ going to deal with this shit today (not when he had seen Tobirama slumped over his desk and that _fucking_ _look_ on his face and deep exhaustion writ over his shoulders and there wasn’t anything that Madara could _do_ ), Hashirama could go _fuck off_. Something of that must have show on his face because the drama faded from Hashirama’s face and his brow furrowed, “Is something wrong?” fuck Madara wanted to punch him “When did your brother sleep last?” he snarled, glad for the fact that they were at a new training field and alone; Hashirama blinked at him for a second before his face fell, not dramatically for once “I don’t know, Tobi – Tobi doesn’t talk to me all that much” Madara stared, shocked to the bone. “He loves you and you love him” the Uchiha spluttered and Hashirama nodded tiredly, dropping to sit against at tree and Madara dropped down in front of him.

“I – it’s my fault. I was stupid and self-absorbed and by the time I figured things out it was already too late” he scrubbed at this face “when we – when we were meeting as kids Tobirama must have known about it, his range was big enough to feel you- though I didn’t know that then- and he definitely knew _who_ you were even when I was ignoring it. In retrospect he must have been distracting father but I, I didn’t know at the time and well, I got mad with him for ruining our meetings which was just so fucking dumb given how often he stuck his neck out for me and how often the days he didn’t distract father were always the days that Izuna followed you; he must have known. He always knew and did his best to make things work for us and then after father found out he must have done something to convince father not to kill you, he wanted to and he would have but he _didn’t_ and I heard things later that made me think – well, father punished him somehow for that and Tobi was never quite the same, it just, it hurt something deep inside and he never got better and I only figured it out too late to do anything, Tobirama had already pulled back and turned inside himself so far and I had – _have_ , no idea how to reach him. I was an idiot and self-absorbed and just, my brother needed me and I wasn’t there; I wouldn’t even talk to him for a bit and by the time I started again he was so surprised that I never really figured out how to do it right.” Hashirama looked fractured, hurting and worried and Madara – _fuck_ “I wish I could find his soulmate, but he never talks about his thread and I think sometimes father must have done something to his thread or something. But his soulmate would help I bet; if he had someone to lean on, someone he trusted, he might be able to relax and take a breath and _sleep_. So, no, I don’t know when he slept last; we love each other Madara, we love each other but we don’t talk much”

Madara took a deep breath and swung, punching Hashirama across the face _hard_ and sending the taller man sprawling, as his breath coming in tight and hard “He is your _brother_ Hashirama, you don’t fucking _do_ this. You don’t stop trying, you don’t _give up_ on blood. Tobirama doesn’t want to talk? Fine, make him food, try to lessen the amount of work he has- it’s far to much and we both know it-, try to _listen_ to him, or not hug him like you want to kill him- he doesn’t enjoy that and anyone that looks can see that” Hashirama was staring at Madara with huge eyes and blood on his lips from Madara’s fist “he deserves better than this” the Uchiha hissed “he deserves better than you, fucking man up” and Madara turned and stormed away. Damn it, he had been worried back when he thought that Hashirama was keeping an eye on Tobirama but now – now he was _really_ worried (and pissed, really, _really_ , pissed though he was trying not to think too much about what Hashirama had said so that he didn’t go back and give killing the Senju a good effort), if no one had been keeping an eye on Tobirama and everyone knew that the albino was crazy good at hiding behind an icy façade so who knew how bad off the younger Senju was. (Madara didn’t have a soulmate, an absence he felt like an ache in his soul, he didn’t know where his perfect half was, but he could _help_ Tobirama, he could do that.)

Of course it wasn’t that easy (of _course_ not). Tobirama made it hard to find him, every time Madara tried to corner him he had _just_ left; but it meant that Madara had a chance to read a hell of a lot of Tobirama’s notes and papers. It was an accident at first and then Madara got addicted to it; hooked on reading the brilliant, snarky, determined, notes and learning more about the younger Senju. If only _Tobirama_ was his soulmate, that would be _perfect,_ Madara couldn’t think of someone more perfect for him but there had never been even a glimmer of red when they were near and it _hurt_ to only be able to leave treats on the albino’s desk and try to take over as much work as he could. It hurt when Madara wanted to do more so much it was an ache he couldn’t understand and-

wait

Hashirama. Hashirama had said that their father had punished Tobirama, said that he thought that Butsuma might have done something to the albino’s thread. Done something to Tobirama’s soulmate bond and- _fuck_ , this was along shot, a _really_ long shot but if there was a chance, _any_ chance that Tobirama was _his_. well. he couldn’t possibly not try, not when it was Tobirama. 

Madara took a deep breath and headed to the edge of the Senju compound where he knew Tobirama kept his labs so as to not hurt anyone if there was an accident; he wasn’t sure what he was going to say but something had to be said, well, he would figure it out as he went as he normally did with anything other than battle. Knocking on the door prompted no response and neither did flaring his chakra; Madara frowned deeply at the door for a long moment, he didn’t want to interrupt and fuck something up but given how tired Tobirama ad been looking there was an unfortunate chance the younger man had hurt himself or fallen asleep on something he shouldn’t. Fuck it. Madara picked the _powerful_ wards on the door and pushed it open carefully peering around looking for a familiar head of white hair – ah, there, slumped over a lab table and Madara had to force himself not to run to the other man’s side to check that he was alright; he couldn’t run, he _knew_ that Tobirama worked on powerful things and if him moving to fast set something off he would feel like an _idiot_. Slowly picking his way across the room he blew out a relived breath when he got close enough to see that there was no blood around the slim shape and another deeper sigh when he pressed fingers to the albino’s neck and felt the soft- slow and a little unsteady, shit- pulse against his fingers; thank the _gods_ , he was ok, well, alive and relatively unhurt.

Madara sighed again and looked around at the notes Tobirama had fallen asleep over and frowned at the schematic under the long-fingered hands, what-? it looked like it addressed fate threads and Tenketsuin points, what was he working on? There was another – sentence that he couldn’t see the end of _“-sensors ability’s can of course see threads if-“_ Madara’s eyes went wide. Shit, sensors could see _threads?!_ Then maybe he was wrong, surely Tobirama would have said something if they were soulmates? But…maybe not, he already knew that the albino had terrible self-esteem and was frighteningly self-sacrificing so maybe it wasn’t so surprising at that. Damn, Madara _really_ needed a way to check. He frowned at the paper, taping his fingers on the table and rubbing absent light circles on the back of Tobirama’s neck; he wasn’t much of a sensor but he could do it a little and they were close enough that he _might_ be able to see something, it was worth a chance and if he couldn’t see anything he could just ask. The Uchiha shifted to crouch next to Tobirama and flared his chakra, pressing his fingers to the ground and letting it sweep out in a sharp _ping_ of power (he wasn’t Tobirama who was unable to turn his sensing off, Madara had to activate his to feel anything) and then reeling back as the albino lit up in a tangled web of brilliant red lines; red _threads_. How-? How had this _happened?!_ How had Tobirama ended up with his thread wrapped around him like this?

His shock must have woken Tobirama because the albino stirred with a soft mumble (was that Madara’s _name?_ ) and his hands shifted out from under his head. Madara caught the pale hands in his own with out thinking about it and stared as his own thread unspooled into sight in a swirling filaments of red as his and Tobirama’s connected; he was right, Tobirama was his soulmate, Tobirama was _his soulmate_ (he was so glad he felt like he was glowing). A sharp inhalation made his head snap up and meet brilliant red eyes filled with worry; Tobirama looked like he was waiting for Madara to yell at him, like he though Madara was going to hit him, to _hurt_ him. “No, no, no,” Madara whispered only to swear when Tobirama flinched back, reaching out to capture the pale hands and hold the albino as close as he could; “I didn’t mean it like _that_ , its just – you’re my soulmate?” Tobirama licked his lips watching Madara’s face “Yes. You – I’m sorry” he murmured. Madara’s world rocked under his feet, he – Tobirama – “What?” he rasped and Tobirama looked away though he didn’t try to take his hands back “I’m sorry, I know I’m not what you wanted. I tried to stay out of the way, I – you – brother – “ the albino said in a tired, resigned voice and Madara had to breath slowly in order to keep from yelling “I’m not, not sorry I mean. Did you think I would refuse you? You’re my _soulmate_ , Tobirama why would I be upset about that?” the albino gaped at him, plainly shocked “You – I – I’m not exactly what anyone would want” Madara definitely wanted to _hit something_.

The Uchiha blew out a slow breath and rubbed gently at the long fingers in his grip “You think I don’t want you?” he asked again and Tobirama looked away “I am not…blind to my faults Madara-sama, I’m not what someone would want, _especially_ not and Uchiha – your clan prizes soulmates I know and I’m” he waved a vague hand at himself and Madara had to regulate his breathing carefully to keep from breathing fire in his anger “besides, everyone knows that you and brother are…close, and you already have a bond with him, I won’t say anything about it, I promise I won’t make trouble Madara” his fingers were shaking a little, fine tremors slipping into Madara’s hands where they were curled around the albino’s. Madara stared at him “You think – you think I won’t want you and that I would rather be with _Hashirama_?! Just because I have a shared purpose thread?” Tobirama grimaced “I know what I am Madara” the Uchiha shivered at the sound of his name in that rich voice “and I know what Hashirama is, he is everything I’m not and that –“ Madara slapped a hand over the albino’s mouth, seething with anger “ _NO,_ fuck this Tobirama, _no_. I don’t want you idiot of a brother and I never have, he not what I would ever want in a soulmate and frankly even the idea of that is just” he shuddered “ _you_ on the other hand” Madara shifted his hand, caressing one red streaked cheek “you are brilliant, breathtaking, captivating, I can’t think of a better fit for me” Tobirama was staring at him with a look of wide eyed shock on his pale face.

“Why do you think I came here Tobirama? I wanted to check, I hoped, that this” he wiggled his fingers, drawing the albino’s attention to the shinning red “would be what I found. I wanted you for myself long before I knew about this” Madara said soothingly. Tobirama stared at him and licked his lips, “You – truly?” the albino asked in a thin voice and Madara smiled, cupping the pale cheek “Yes” Tobirama searched his face for a long moment and then his eyes went gentle and warm “Oh” he breathed and Madara felt his smile go warmer and a little stupid as he stretched up to press a light kiss to thin lips “Yes _oh_ you brilliant treasure”

(Later, after meals together and evenings Madara spent coaxing his soulmate out of the office or lab, promising him over and over again that he had done enough, it was alright to rest now- Madara had given Hashirama another black eye after a few to many times soothing his stressed soulmate, he was _disgusted_ with the other man’s lack of care for his little brother- after sparing together and seeing Tobirama wake up from napping in Madara’s lap and holding the long elegant hand in public; watching as the people of Konoha tried to understand and slowly saw that way that Madara treated Tobirama so differently from his brother. Listening as the villagers slowly started to whisper about how wonderful they were together and seeing Tobirama relax a little every time that Madara chose him over Hashirama- and easy choice as far as Madara was concerned- watching his Senju flourish under care and attention and time Madara couldn’t help but bless whatever greater power had seen fit to give them to each other and eventually Madara traced the red thread across Tobirama’s pale skin with his lips, like shinning Shibari that showed he belonged to Madara and Madara alone.)


End file.
